Summertime the sequel

Just when we thought summer was over for good, we had a weekend of 30 degree Celcius weather!  Incredible considering some years we have snow by now.

The Hubster had a weekend away from harvest {because of an earlier rain} so off to the lake we went.

We quickly packed up the trailer and drove to a campground about an hour and a half from our house.

We really enjoy fall camping but it isn't usually this hot!  The campgrounds are quiet, most of the misquitos already froze to death, and the Autumn leaves are gorgeous.  

The lake was cold!

The kids didn't seem to mind.   

They had a fun afternoon at the beach...

maybe a little too much fun.

Resulting in a few "time-outs".  A feeble effort to bring the gratuitous amount of crazed energy and social 

un-awarness back to acceptable levels.  

We finished the day with our classic camping meal.

The kids spent the rest of the evening at the playground and exploring around our campsite.

Sunday morning we all woke up a little grumpy, because somebody screamed for 3 hours during the night....

an angry, "this isn't my bed", "I want to go home right now" kind of hysteria.  

It was awesome.

After we attempted to wash the sand and camp filth off of our kids, and pack up the trailer (while trying to keep the kids from getting filthy all over again) we drove to church in the City.

Afterwards we met some friends for a picnic at the river.

Day two of beach fun!

This time we went to a secluded top secret location that involved a short drive and a 10 minute hike through marsh and brush.  It was worth the trek though.  We had a huge sand bar all to ourselves.

Which is a good thing because I forgot Cece's swimsuit in the car (on the other side of the brush and marsh).

 Our friends treated us to a yummy picnic lunch.   

We spent the rest of the afternoon soaking up our last rays of Vitaman D while we watched our river children dominate the sand bar.

Tomorrow, instead of cleaning out the trailer and washing all our filthy wet clothes, I'll be putting on my farmer hat back on and running the combine 

(with hopes that the cleaning fairies will do the house work while I'm gone). 

  I think the end of Harvest 2011 is in sight!

I'm not nearly as excited to see the end of summer though.  We had a great one and I have the pictures to prove it!

This week kicked my butt

 It had the same effect on my garden.

Although my garden resembles a bit how I feel , it's state of being mostly dead was brought on by a sudden change in temperature.   Last Sunday we had a 30 degree Celsius (86 F) hot summer day a couple days later we reached -8 (17.6 F).  My garden didn't like it so much.  I'm not that thrilled with the climate change either.  

However, my own state of mostly dead was brought on by these hooligans...and a mischievous 18 month old. 

It's my own fault really.

I tried to take them from this... 

to this.  Cold turkey.

{yes her hair always looks like that}

I was prepared.  I had been reading about educational philosophies, methods, and strategies.  I had wonderful plans, schedules, and ambition for our first full week of educating my kidlets.

 I'm pleased to report that it all went perfectly as planned, the children were eager to do their morning chores, and they studied with intensity from their new school books...

for the first 10 minutes.

It went great.

Then the 1 year old grabbed all the pencils, snuck off with the markers, chewed up the eraser, dumped out the flashcards, and turned a library book into her sketch pad.

My pre-schooler eagerly practiced his letters 

until he began a farting noise competition.

Aili won.

I bet you didn't know that kids could eat breakfast at 8 am ...

and then be STARVING at 9am

about 2 minutes after picking up their pencils.  

5 days

have never felt so long.

I may not survive.

Next year I'm adding a large bottle of of wine and a long straw to my first week of school survival supply list.

Maybe it would be better to ease back into incorporating curriculum/ book work into our day rather than to jump in with all 10 feet.  

I must remember for next year that the first week is going to suck and not to even bother with my white board until after harvest.   

I think if we didn't have such extreme weather I would prefer to reconfigure our home learning year into 3 months on, 1 month off.  That way we get breaks more regularly and none of them are long enough to completely forget everything.  We may work towards something more like that in the future. 

 Flexibility is a perk.

I hate how I'm already battling the insecurity, doubts, guilt, fear, and inadequacy that seems to come with  outside the box motherhood...or motherhood in general  There are moments when I am confident we'll get our act together, and I see so much value in our family integrated education.  Then there are moments when I want to drop them off  boarding school and drive far far away.  

  Seriously.  

This week I said at least three times "Knock it off, and get to work, or I'm putting you back in regular school!"

Knocking the dust off these summertime brains has been harder than I anticipated, I think it's been more like sanding off rust.  

This harvest season is getting old.  My husband is burnt out from working long hard hours in the field.

I'm burnt out from parenting long hard hours at home. 

We're getting less sleep.

 Tempers are short.  

Exhaustion is setting in.  

On the bright side we've got a long winter to look forward to.

Sigh.

Thank God it's Friday..and next week is a fresh start.

Farm Hand

Last week was the first official week of "School" for our household but my best intentions for setting some sort of routine/ schedule and dusting the cobwebs off of little brains was interrupted by recruitment.  

I was drafted onto the harvest crew part way through the week.   My work load consisted of 4 , 10 (ish) hour days sitting on my rear end, in total isolation, listening to hours and hours of podcasts of all my favorite speakers and music.  It was rough.  Not a child to be seen.  No laundry to put away.  No screeching toddler...just the comforting rubble of the combine.   

10 hour days are nothing during harvest.  The rest of the crew worked about 100 hours in 6 days.  I begrudgingly clocked out early to relieve the grandma babysitter and go home to put kids to bed. 

The She-rah in the picture above is my little brother's wife who came out to join the crew.  She has definitely earned the new title of farm girl. 

Other than my sister in law our little crew consists of my Dad (the boss man with the wrench) and my handsome Hubster. 

That smile and point translates to "Your combine is ready, put away the camera and get to work!" 

This week I'm back to family life as usual.  The school books have been dusted off, the library has been visited, and a weeks worth of laundry beckons. I've resumed peeing indoors.  

The rest of the crew continues to work long days in the fields.   

 Last week we had perfect, hot, dry, sweaty, dusty, harvest weather.  As of last night, cool, damp, autumn air has moved in and  serves as a reminder that winter looms right around the corner.  *shudder*

My mom, while also caring for my four kids,  fed our crew a hot meal in the field each day.  A harvest tradition that my kids look forward to each year.   We snuggled up to the semi truck to find shade while we ate.   It was a crazy hot day.

Our newest little farm girl.  Miss Cece thought eating in the dirt and watching the big trucks and tractors was great fun.

A few more years and we'll have another field hand.  He rode along with me for a few hours and was eager to learn to run a combine.   I really love that our kids are able to spend time working with their dad during the day.  They look forward to that one on one time with him.  I'm thankful that we're not split up into different locations, living completely separate lives only to converge momentarily at the end of each day.  We do life together.

Even if that life looks a little odd at times :)

Celebrating a Decade with my Daughter

This week was my oldest child's 10th birthday.

We are into double digits now!

It's crazy to think what another 10 years will bring...

oh, I shouldn't have gone there.  

In another 10 years this girl will be all grown up, and making her way in the world. 

Where did the years go? Seriously. 

She invited a few friends (the same ones that have been coming since her 2nd Birthday party)  for a sleepover.  We had a 1950's / rock 'n roll / sock hop party theme.  It was a bit of history education as well since not one of them even knew who Elvis was. 

Roman skipped the giggle fest and spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's. Little bro stuck around and even allowed me to grease back his hair.  He refused to wear the white t-shirt that I picked out for him though.  It wasn't as cool as the shirt with the robot.  

It's nice to see his eyes again!  I may have to get this bad boy a hair cut.

He didn't seem to mind being out numbered 5 to 1.  

We did  Diner style food.  Easy peasy

One party game included a slightly scandalous version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.  They played Kiss the Lipstick on Elvis while being serenaded by "Jail House Rock".  The one who made it closest to the lips won.   Of course they all danced and hula-hooped to some old school rock 'n roll.  

My ears are still ringing with the sound of giggling, shrieking, and singing.  My house smells like a strange mix of lip gloss and arm pits.  

10 year olds are are a fascinating bunch.  It is such an in-between age.  Not quite princess dresses and baby dolls....but not yet make-up and drivers licenses.  A brief moment in the balance between girl and woman.  A glimpse of the years to come while still familiar with the years that have passed.  

I've been a parent for one whole decade!

I feel so blessed.  It seems impossible that this many years have passed since I held my wide eyed, healthy baby girl in my arms.  I will never forget how it felt to leave the hospital with a baby.  Terrifying and victoriously exhilarating all at the same time.  

I am so proud of you Aili.  You are radiant.  Your enthusiasm, beauty, and heart light up our home. 

Beer cans and Icecream.

What do bags full of empty beer and soda cans have to do with icecream?

Let me explain. 

Yesterday while we were sitting around the table talking about our upcoming, still in the planning stages, trip to Mexico, the kids decided that they wanted to save up enough money to take each of the kids at the orphanage out for icecream.  They also came up with a lot of other ideas on how to treat their amigos to something fun, show the kids at the orphanage that we care about them, and provide for some basic needs for their friends  not living at the orphanage but who are living in poverty.  

I just sat back and listened...smiling.

This is part of why we do what we do.  It's so great to see the fruit starting to form.  

After they made up their plan to start an "Icecream for Orphans Fund" they found a jar, ran and got whatever change they happened to have in their rooms (which is all they have) dumped it in their jar and then decided they would need more.

Thus started the list of ways to earn, and raise money.

This morning these three walked around our little village asking neighbors if they had any cans or bottles they would like to donate.  They pulled a wagon and carried a homemade sign (a piece of construction paper with "Ice cream for Orphans" written on it and drawings of icecream cones all over it.)

These kids walked around carrying arm loads of loot for over two hours (while I stayed home).   Then they spent a couple more hours sorting and stomping all the cans.  

Just look at the satisfaction on those little faces.   It really is the only time I'll see my child hugging a liquor bottle like it's his best friend and smile.  

I am so proud of them.  Not only are they understanding that it's important to be generous but they are making it personal.  It's a hands on project that they have sacrificed for and are pouring some sweat equity into.  They are doing it all of their own initiative, for the benefit of someone else.  

It's so incredible to see God taking our flawed feeble efforts as parents and covering it all in His grace.  

It's profound to see Him working in their hearts.  

In other news...

It is that time of year again.  Harvest 2011 has begun.

I'm not part of the work crew this year but the crew is working hard, long hours.  I should have a husband again in about 6 wks...and then I'm hoping that we can escape for a weekend together in the city.  (Honey if you read this...that's a hint...nudge nudge...wink wink)

Canola or Wheat anyone?

Sorry India, no lentils this year.

Freedom fighters, duct tape and Fishermen

I love the way God made children.   Their ability to create, imagine, and play remains so untainted.

My 3 oldest kids have been playing outside most of the day, lost in their imaginations, the story line of some great adventure.

  

Unstructured, child led, unplanned, unscheduled, unplugged play.

Silas' pose might lead you to think that play time is miserable.  They were having a great time but this child is good at looking (and acting) like he's miserable at any given moment.

 I guess I would be unhappy to if I was imprisoned by Nero the evil Roman Emperor.

That is indeed what they were playing for hours this morning.  They were "freedom fighters" hiding from the maniacal ruler,  and trying to survive under his murderous regime.  

They survived in the first century A.D by taking out their little fishing boat to catch fish.   Roman (appropriately named)  informed me that he also did Blacksmithing on the side.

Of course he also had an assorted arsenal of wooden swords to protect his family.  

They  dug a well.  A really deep, big hole in the backyard sandbox.  They haven't found water yet...but I may find small neighbor children trapped in their pit at some point.

We live in a culture where kids are sterilized,  institutionalized, and every minute of their days are scheduled with activity.  It's so important to reclaim and protect the lost art of mud pie making, epic battle fighting, and tree climbing.

Playing isn't time wasted.  Playing is learning, experiencing, processing, building, creating, and experimenting.

Education is very important but in an effort to compete, protect, and provide "every opportunity", we forget that play is a vital part of their education.   We, as a society, have replaced imaginative childhood play with lessons, sports, activities, classrooms, and running around at a manic pace.  None of those things are bad for kids, in fact some may be beneficial, but when the balance is lost our burnt out, over burdened kids suffer.   

Childhood is so short.

Too short to waste time putting on shoes. 

Let them make messes.

Let them get dirty.

Let them climb trees, ride bikes, and fly as high as they can on swings.  

(It kind of looks like Roman was beheaded in this photo.  I suppose that wasn't unlikely considering they were living under the rule of Nero.)

  Break out the dreaded things like sand, dirt, garden hoses, glue, finger paint and playdoh and let them be kids.  

The things they come up with when you leave them alone with their imaginations may impress you.

I for one, would never think to build a jet out of Popsicle sticks and duct tape.  

We are soaking up the last days of curriculum free days.  Our new "school" year will be starting after the long weekend.  I've been sorting supplies, organizing books,  and mentally preparing to reign in these little freedom fighters so I can teach them how to multiply fractions.